The challenging context of social work interventions require that most intervention studies will be derived from nonexperimental research designs. Two evaluation studies in this special issue employed nonrandomized designs to examine the efficacy of two programs--a police crisis intervention team designed to enhance officers' responses to mental…

Comments on two recent articles in "Family Relations" on the effectiveness of abstinence-only pregnancy prevention programs. Focuses on several methodological and analytical aspects of the articles and challenges authors' conclusion based primarily on their evaluation of one project, that abstinence-based prevention programs do not work. (NB)

To combat the problem of teenage pregnancy, public health clinics have made birth control counseling and free contraceptives available to minors and many public schools have implemented sex education programs. Despite the development and implementation of these programs, teenage sexual activity and pregnancy have increased. The increase in…

The Clinton administration's 1996 welfare reform legislation contained a "charitable choice" clause, a provision that encourages states to increase the involvement of religious organizations in federal programs such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. The administration of George W. Bush has intensified and extended this policy…